That's my problem with this. They filed in December and we finally get a ruling. Hopefully the League of Women Voters and the rest can get back up and running after being shuttered in Florida for so long.

vudukungfu:Someone told me they allow felons to vote in Fla.This cannot be true.I didn't think any convicted felon was able to vote. Period.

Depends on state laws, but only a few have an outright ban on convicted felons. You can usually apply to have your voting privileges reinstated after a certain amount of time.

This doesn't stop Republican Secretaries of State in Florida from purging all felons, or people with the same name, or people with similar names, or people who live at similar addresses, from the voter rolls.

Headso:vudukungfu: Someone told me they allow felons to vote in Fla.This cannot be true.I didn't think any convicted felon was able to vote. Period.

no, most states allow you to vote after either your time in the clink or that plus your probation, Maine lets you even vote while you are locked up.

That's good. I thought they were banned for life, too, which has always botherd me since there are some stupid things that rank as "felonies". Besides, I see no real world justification for that right being taken away.

Mikey1969:Headso: vudukungfu: Someone told me they allow felons to vote in Fla.This cannot be true.I didn't think any convicted felon was able to vote. Period.

no, most states allow you to vote after either your time in the clink or that plus your probation, Maine lets you even vote while you are locked up.

That's good. I thought they were banned for life, too, which has always botherd me since there are some stupid things that rank as "felonies". Besides, I see no real world justification for that right being taken away.

I don't see how it is even possible that you can take someones ability to vote away even while they are locked up, anyone know the supposed logic behind it?

odinsposse:stewmadness: Nothing like those who are stupid enough to not have a valid ID being allowed to participate in the most important election of the era. Awesome.

I didn't realize you were the arbiter of voting rights. Oh wait, you're just another traitor who wants to stop people from voting because you disagree with them.

I think the official dogwhistle/catchphrase is "mob rule", and how terrible it is that "the mob" is going to potentially sway an election. I wish they'd just go ahead and run "they don't value human life like we do" out there and have done with it.

It's funny that we all pretty much know if everyone voted, we'd never see a Republican in elected office ever again, hence their intense focus on suppression.

Funny thing - if the electoral college apportioned by population only - I.e. didn't apportion a minimum of 3 votes to small states - Bush would have lost convincingly both times. Republicans have a huge systemic advantage due to the fact that their base is loosely spread over mid-west and west in multiple states with a fraction of the population of the larger states.

Voter registration suppression, vote suppression, unlimited money with which to buy elections, a campaign that is, by their own admission, not in any way limited to the truth....

And they're still, at best, break even. The republicans have literally launched a direct assault on the very foundation of American democracy in an attempt to literally usurp power from the people and with all that cheating they still have at best a 50/50 shot at the white house while running against an average incumbent president that they've actively hamstrung from the day he took office.

Vegan Meat Popsicle:Voter registration suppression, vote suppression, unlimited money with which to buy elections, a campaign that is, by their own admission, not in any way limited to the truth....

And they're still, at best, break even. The republicans have literally launched a direct assault on the very foundation of American democracy in an attempt to literally usurp power from the people and with all that cheating they still have at best a 50/50 shot at the white house while running against an average incumbent president that they've actively hamstrung from the day he took office.

Headso:Mikey1969: Headso: vudukungfu: Someone told me they allow felons to vote in Fla.This cannot be true.I didn't think any convicted felon was able to vote. Period.

no, most states allow you to vote after either your time in the clink or that plus your probation, Maine lets you even vote while you are locked up.

That's good. I thought they were banned for life, too, which has always botherd me since there are some stupid things that rank as "felonies". Besides, I see no real world justification for that right being taken away.

I don't see how it is even possible that you can take someones ability to vote away even while they are locked up, anyone know the supposed logic behind it?

Well, it was part of the penalty for a felony as far as I know, but I'm betting it was back in the day when a penalty was a serious thing that affected the security of the country in some way? I'm thinking it's an archaic holdover,

Vegan Meat Popsicle:Voter registration suppression, vote suppression, unlimited money with which to buy elections, a campaign that is, by their own admission, not in any way limited to the truth....

And they're still, at best, break even. The republicans have literally launched a direct assault on the very foundation of American democracy in an attempt to literally usurp power from the people and with all that cheating they still have at best a 50/50 shot at the white house while running against an average incumbent president that they've actively hamstrung from the day he took office.

Headso:Mikey1969: Headso: vudukungfu: Someone told me they allow felons to vote in Fla.This cannot be true.I didn't think any convicted felon was able to vote. Period.

no, most states allow you to vote after either your time in the clink or that plus your probation, Maine lets you even vote while you are locked up.

That's good. I thought they were banned for life, too, which has always botherd me since there are some stupid things that rank as "felonies". Besides, I see no real world justification for that right being taken away.

I don't see how it is even possible that you can take someones ability to vote away even while they are locked up, anyone know the supposed logic behind it?

Sadly, the Constitution has no provision that specifies an explicit, affirmative right to vote. The pertinent clauses and amendments say you can't be denied it due to certain reasons (race, sex, poll tax, etc.) but they're all phrased negatively; instead of saying "everyone can vote, regardless of whether or not they've paid their taxes", the amendment says "states can't deny the right to vote because you haven't paid your taxes". Felon tax criminals notwithstanding, of course.

As long as the reason you're denied can't plausibly be linked to one of the proscribed reasons, it's all good.

As for the logic behind it, it's punishment; a convicted felon should not have the privilege of having a say in the laws. It's the whole "debt to society" thing.

Vegan Meat Popsicle:And they're still, at best, break even. The republicans have literally launched a direct assault on the very foundation of American democracy in an attempt to literally usurp power from the people and with all that cheating they still have at best a 50/50 shot at the white house while running against an average incumbent president that they've actively hamstrung from the day he took office.

no, most states allow you to vote after either your time in the clink or that plus your probation, Maine lets you even vote while you are locked up.

That's good. I thought they were banned for life, too, which has always botherd me since there are some stupid things that rank as "felonies". Besides, I see no real world justification for that right being taken away.

I don't see how it is even possible that you can take someones ability to vote away even while they are locked up, anyone know the supposed logic behind it?

Sadly, the Constitution has no provision that specifies an explicit, affirmative right to vote for your state's electors for president. The pertinent clauses and amendments say you can't be denied it due to certain reasons (race, sex, poll tax, etc.) but they're all phrased negatively; instead of saying "everyone can vote, regardless of whether or not they've paid their taxes", the amendment says "states can't deny the right to vote because you haven't paid your taxes". Felon tax criminals notwithstanding, of course.

As long as the reason you're denied can't plausibly be linked to one of the proscribed reasons, it's all good.

As for the logic behind it, it's punishment; a convicted felon should not have the privilege of having a say in the laws. It's the whole "debt to society" thing.

There was a SCOTUS case, McPherson v. Blacker, awhile back that ruled the state's had plenary power to choose their electors. In short, states don't actually have to have a vote for president. If an arbitrary state wanted to create a constitutional amendment automatically granting their electoral votes to the Democratic Party candidate, they legally can do that.

As for House and Senate elections, you really do have the right to vote in those elections based on the 17th Amendment and Article I, Section 2, Clause 1. But you can still restrict the right to voting outside of the prohibited restrictions laid out in the amendments as long as it passes strict scrutiny.